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Friday, 9 March 2012

March 9th in Queer History

Born this day

Vita Sackville-West(1892 – 1962), UK
English author, poet and gardener. She won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927 and 1933. She was famous for her exuberant aristocratic life,her strong marriage (although she and her husband Harold Nicolson were both bisexual), her passionate affair with novelist Virginia Woolf, and Sissinghurst Castle Garden, which she and Nicolson created at Sissinghurst.

Will Geer(1902 – 1978), US
Actor and social activist. He is known for his portrayal of Grandpa Zebulon Tyler Walton in the 1970s TV series, The Waltons.
Geer was also the lover of gay activist Harry Hay.

Samuel Barber(1910 – 1981) US
Composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His life partner was the composer and librettist Gian Carlo Menotti, who supplied the libretto for Barber's opera, Vanessa.

Felice Schragenheim(1922 - 1944 ) German

Jewish resistance fighter during World War II. She is known for her tragic love story with Lilly Wust and death during a march from Gross-Rosen concentration camp (today Poland) to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.

Will Ferdy (1927 – ) Belgian
Flemish singer, actor and comic, who in 1970 was the first Flemish artist to come out publicly as gay. In 2006 he won the Gay Krant awarded, when he was chosen by its readers as the person to have made the greatest contribution to homo emancipation.

John Wojtowicz(1945 – 2006) US
Bank Robber, whose story was the basis of the film "Dog Day Afternoon". After his release from 14 years in prison, he used the proceeds from selling the film rights to finance his partner's gender reassignment surgery.

Jack Kenny(1958 – ) US
Screenwriter / Producer

Jason Dudey(1971 – ) US
Comedian

Adele Roberts (1979 – ) UK
Reality TV [Big Brother] / Presenter

Died this day

One of America’s preeminent 20th century photographers. His works, which have been displayed in numerous prominent galleries and museums, encompass an eclectic mix of subjects: flowers, especially orchids and calla lilies, classical nudes, homoerotic acts, bondage and discipline, and celebrities. In 1989, Mapplethorpe died from complications arising from AIDS. He was 42.

Albert Mol(1917 - 2004) Dutch
Popular Dutch author, actor and TV personality, who appeared in movies and TV shows in a career that spanned nearly 60 years. He was one of the first openly gay actors in the Netherlands.

Denise Restout(1915 – 2004) French. Musician, Teacher, Author, Editor

Keyboard teacher; expert on German and French Baroque performance practice for the keyboard; and protégé, assistant, editor, biographer and domestic partnerof noted harpsichordist Wanda Landowska.

Jeanette Schmid (1924 -2005) Czech
Austria’s last professional whistler, Schmid was better known by her stage name: Baroness Lips von Lipstrill. Born a man in Czechoslovakia, Schmid underwent gender reassignment surgery in Egypt in 1964.

Sodomy in history, March 9th

1893 — Just 19 days after the Washington Supreme Court pointed out the lack of a sodomy law, the Washington legislature passes a specific sodomy law. Governor John Harte McGraw allows it to become law without his signature. The penalty is set at 10-14 years.

1904 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturns a sodomy conviction because penetration had not been proven.

1954 — The U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia upholds a sodomy conviction after holding the defendant’s post-arrest silence against him.

1956 — Georgia prohibits parole to anyone convicted of sodomy who has any "mental, moral or physical impairment which would render release unadvisable."

1972 — The Montana Constitutional Convention defeats a proposal to protect consenting adult sexual activity in the Bill of Rights by a vote of 69-16, with 15 not voting. The purpose of the measure is to prohibit criminal prosecution of consenting homosexuals.

1981 — A Maryland appellate court upholds the right of the prosecution to introduce a 25-year-old sodomy conviction against a defendant for purposes of impeaching credibility.